


Spaceboy crash landing, earth is a hard place when you're all alone

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Apologies, Family Bonding, Gen, Good Brother Luther Hargreeves, Heart-to-Heart, Loneliness, Sibling Love, Team as Family, and Luther makes them all feel better about their pain, everyone airs out their dirty laundry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-25 20:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19753237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: Luther has been stuck on the moon for so long that he's forgotten what it means to be a brother and what it was like to be anything other than his father's errand boy. So what- maybe he is out of touch and a little self-centred, and maybe he can be a prick some times, but everything he does, he does for the greater good of his family and the world, right? Right?Luther realizes that, if you start acting like a brother, you get treated like a brother.(AKA the author feels bad about how she's written Luther as an asshole even though he's more than that, so I tied to make up for it)





	Spaceboy crash landing, earth is a hard place when you're all alone

Luther, despite whatever evidence there might have been to the contrary, liked to think of himself as a relatively good brother. Maybe he wasn't the best and maybe he wasn't always there when his siblings needed him but at least he tried.  
  
Being on the moon was more lonely than he would have liked to admit, and maybe four years with nobody but his thoughts for company might have attributed to him being out of touch with other people, but four years with nothing but the memory of his family would be hard on anyone.   
  
When he had returned back home, back to the place he had grown up in and had so many fond memories of, nothing in the world could have prepared him for the sight he was met with.  
  
Diego was angry, but he was always angry, always had been. There was some unknown underlying bitterness and rage that boiled just beneath his skin, something stronger and much more dangerous than ever before, but as long as Diego was putting that fury towards something productive, then Luther was fine to let him go.

Allison was as beautiful as ever, but there was something warped and broken in the way she held herself and smiled and it was so wrong that Luther didn't know where to start, but she was still Allison, and he loved her all the same.

Klaus was wild and crazy and extravagant, but he had always been that way, but he was so much worse than Luther had ever seen him. Thin and skittish and lazy and so high he probably would have been able to chat with Luther on the moon, but he mostly kept to himself, so, for now, Luther was willing to indulge him.  
  
Five looked exactly how Luther remembered him, with the same ambition and pride and honour in every word he said, but there was something dark and haunted behind his eyes, and just looking in them made him feel uneasy.  
  
Vanya was still the quiet squirrelly little thing that kept to herself in the corner and only spoke unless she was spoken too, but since her book came out, she seemed to be hiding within herself more than normal. Luther can't say that he blamed her if the looks Diego had been giving her said anything.   
  
But it wasn't until much later that Luther realized how utterly ruined his family was. Not until they found Five drunk at the library and when he easily told Luther about what killing felt like. Not until Patch died and Diego started to turn his anger inward and was obsessed with finding Hazel and Cha-Cha. Not since Vanya fell in love with Leonard Peabody, who ultimately ruined her in every way possible and turned her into the one responsible for the apocalypse.   
  
So, sure- maybe Luther wasn't the best brother who ever lived, but he loved his siblings with everything he had even if they were nothing but pains in his ass. He wanted to be a good brother. To be the brother that they deserved. He really did.  
  
Personally, Luther thought of their numbers as more than just their fathers ranking, and maybe the others did too, but he liked to think being Number One made him the oldest, Diego the second child, Vanya the youngest and so on. If that was true, and he was more than just Number One, then he was doing a pretty fucked up job at being a big brother.   
  
And he swore to himself that he was going to fix that if it was the last thing he ever did. One sibling at a time.  
  
_**2.**_

He found Diego in his old room in their childhood home, sitting on the bed that had always been too small, his domino mask in one hand and a photo on a smiling woman in the other. His back was to the door, so Luther made sure to clear his throat and step heavily on the creaky floorboards to announce his presence. "It's me, Diego."  
  
"Of course it is," Diego sniffled, running a hand across his nose as he stuffed the photo back into his pocket. "I could smell you the moment you came upstairs."  
  
"Right," Luther shuffled awkwardly at the doorway until he just gave up trying to be polite and just walked the rest of the way into the room. "Who was that woman in the photo?"  
  
Diego seemed to flinch before relaxing slightly and blew a shaky breath out his slightly parted lips. "Her? Oh, just Patch. Nobody, really."  
  
There was a box of tissues on the bedside table and Luther grabbed them just in case. "She doesn't sound like nobody. Who was she?" The name sounded vaguely familiar, but it had been so long that Luther wasn't sure if he was connecting the right names to the right people and their relationships with his siblings.  
  
"She uh," Diego ran a hand over the back of his neck, and Luther was surprised to see it shaking. "She was a cop. A damn good one too. We dated for a while but it didn't... it didn't work out between us. I always loved her, though, but a cop and a failed superhero were never destined to work out."  
  
Luther would have sat on the edge of the bed, but he was a little afraid of it giving out under his weight, so he settled for moving around the bed to sit in the little chair beside the mirror. As if that was any better. "You say 'was'. What happened to her?"  
  
"You remember Patch," Diego said, but it wasn't an accusation or a question, just a saddened statement. "She died trying to save Klaus from those two assassins from the place Five used to work. The Commission."  
  
Ah yes- Luther did remember now. Remembered the woman Diego was always calling and would smile when he name appeared on his phone. Remembered him sneaking out to go to a crime scene she was working on just to see her in person. Remembered the angry way he had jabbed his finger at Five with tears in his eyes and fire in his words and Luther was forced to lift him up a few inches off the ground to keep him from approaching a very drunk Five, something he hasn't done since they were kids, and felt Diego's anger and sorrow and heartache radiating through him in waves.  
  
"Oh," was all Luther could think of to say. "Right. Patch. I think I do remember," he lied. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Don't be," Diego roughly ran a hand through his hair. "She died doing what she loved. Solving crimes and saving people. Did you know that she saved Klaus? If it weren't for her, he probably would have been dead by the time we realized he was even gone."  
  
"She must have been good at her job," Luther said awkwardly. "If she was able to find Klaus and get him out of there."  
  
Diego lowered his head and all Luther could see was the frazzled strands of his hair. "She found the wrong brother, although she did manage to find one we didn't even know was missing." He grit his teeth and Luther could hear the creaking of his jaw from where he was sitting beside the mirror and knew Diego was trying not to cry. "She should have just _fucking_ waited for me."  
  
Tentatively, Luther reached a hand out and placed it on his brother's shoulder and surprisingly, Diego didn't move away. "If she's as headstrong as you're saying she was, then there was nothing you could have done. She was going to go in with or without you, regardless of the danger."  
  
Sniffling, Diego looked away. Luther took that as his que to leave and squeezed Diego's shoulder. "If you ever need me, you know where to find me. For anything."  
  
Instead of answering, Diego just nodded, his lips pressed tightly shut, and Luther thought it would be best to leave his brother alone to wallow in his memories, even though that was the last thing he wanted to do. He left the room and closed the door as quietly as he could behind him.  
  
_**3.**_

Allison was sitting on the windowsill in the attic, one leg hanging out the window and the other bent on the chopping wooden flame, a cigarette in her fingers and smoke curling lazily into the night sky. "I didn't know you smoked," Luther said as he joined her by the window.  
  
"You've been on the moon for four years," Allison replied and yeah, that was true. "And it's not as if you paid much attention when I moved out."  
  
Luther leaned down on the window in the space open beside his sister, having to duck lower than he would have liked to fit through. "Still, I never would have thought that you'd be the smoking type. Does Patrick know?"  
  
"I smoked until we got married, and then Patrick made sure it was only now and then," Allison said, "and then when I had Claire, I didn't even touch one. But now... I guess it doesn't matter anymore." She laughed bitterly before taking a long drag from her mostly faded cigarette and put it out on the brickwork.   
  
"I guess that I've just always thought of smoking as a Klaus thing." Luther hummed and Allison blew the cigarette smoke out of her mouth. It trailed a dark stain into the clear sky. "Have you heard from her recently? Claire?"  
  
Allison sighed and ran her hand across her forehead. "No. Not since you called her in the phonebooth and even then, I haven't spoken to her since the apocalypse went down. I miss her so _much_ , Luther."  
  
"Patrick still won't let you see her?'  
  
"See her?" Allison scoffed. "He won't even let me speak to her on the phone."  
  
Luther looked at her carefully before he spoke. "You know... I could probably do something about that. Knock on his door... say hello... make some introductions..."  
  
He was proud at the small laugh he had managed to surprise out of her. "Don't bother. It won't do anyone good. Besides, I want Clarie's first impression of her big Uncle Luther to be a good one. Not of him threatening her daddy."  
  
"That's fair," Luther agreed. "But you know that I'll do it if you asked me to."  
  
Allison looked at him with eyes so genuine that Luther felt a pang somewhere deep within his soul. "I know you would."   
  
It started to rain, the gentle splatter landing on Allison's leg, but she didn't seem inclined to go back inside so Luther didn't insist, even when an icy droplet startled him by landing on his forehead. Allison was looking out at the slowly approaching storm, seeming lost in her own thoughts, but Luther had learnt by now that nothing good ever comes from the minds of Hargreeves. "Tell me about her. What is she like?"  
  
"Oh, she's just the only good thing I've ever done in my life," Allison said wistfully, a far off look in her eye. "She's sweet and loud and she loves her monkeys almost as much as she loves her uncle Luther. She's always wanted to meet you," she turned to face him with a sad smile. "Imagine her face when she finds out that her uncle Luther is _also_ a monkey?"  
  
"I mean," Luther laughed, "We probably wouldn't start with that, would we?"  
  
Allison laughed, and if nothing else, Luther was proud to accomplish that little feat of brilliance.  
  
They spoke for a little while longer, half in the rain and half in the warmth in the room, but the love and familiarity they shared was enough to make the conversation comfortable, and soon enough Allison was leaning against him, fast asleep, and Luther easily lifted her into his arms and carried her to her bed.  
  
_**4.**_

Luther had been looking for Klaus for a while, but he should have known to check the bathroom first. He had leant that Klaus's comfort zone was being mostly submerged in warm water and chocking on bubbles. He knocked on the door but to no avail, because Klaus listened to his music way too loud, so with a resigned sigh, he pushed his way inside with his eyes firmly shut.  
  
Through the haze of embarrassment, he heard Klaus's indignant screech and accompanying complaining before he heard. "I'm mostly decent. Don't worry, the bubbles are very modest."  
  
Sighing through his nose, Luther opened his eyes and turned his head to his brother who indeed was covered up to his chest in a thick leather of white foam. "Hi Ben," he murmured and despite Klaus not saying so out loud, he assumed Ben replied. "You need to... I don't know. You're too fluid with your body. I don't care what you wear outside the house, but you should show a little shyness at your brother walking in while you're naked in the bath."  
  
"Why?" Klaus snorted. "We're not really brothers, just raised by the same crazy old man. Besides- I would have thought you'd be the last person to care, after that naked stunt you pulled at that nightclub." He lifted his arms out of the bubbles to shake them at Luther before lowering them back into the water.  
  
"Uh, yeah, actually," Luther looked awkwardly around the room until he caught sight of a small stool in the far corner of the room shoved under the basin and he dragged it over to the bath. It creaked under his weight but didn't break. "I was kinda here to talk to you about that."  
  
Klaus raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh? Has the woman who popped your cherry given you a call and asked for a second visit with an all entry pass to the monkey exhibit?"  
  
Wincing, Luther wished not for the first time that his brother wouldn't be so crass. "No, nothing like that. I actually came to thank you. And to apologise." Somehow, Klaus's eyebrow managed to rise even higher and in the back of his mind, Luther imagined Ben laughing. "For that night. I mean, I can't have been the easiest to deal with but you came after me anyway. So... thank you."  
  
Seeming to sombre a little bit, Klaus sank deeper into the bath, and the headphones around his neck almost slipped past the bubbles, so Luther, instincts kicking in, reached over and plucked the headphones off and placed it near the window. "Yeah, well, I almost didn't come after you at all. Especially after you choked me and kicked me across the room for trying to talk you out of it." He shrugged, water sloshing over the lip of the bath. "Ben was the one who convinced me to get you. He said that you would have done the same thing for me. I was too tired to argue."  
  
That was a pained thing to think about because unfortunately, Luther knew that back when everything was wrong and angry and ugly, that there was no way in hell that Luther would have even thought to go after Klaus. He never had. But now hopefully things would be a little bit different. He hoped. Klaus was looking at him expectantly and Luther cleared his throat to break the silence. "Well, I'll be sure to thank Ben the next time I get a chance."  
  
Klaus waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine. Just make sure it never ever happens again for the rest of our lives and we'll be even."  
  
"I think I can do that," Luther couldn't help but laugh. "But just... thank you. I'm not sure what would have happened if you weren't there. That's not really an experience I'd like to repeat and wasn't really one I wanted to go through in the first place." He paused once he'd noticed that Klaus had stopped listening. "I don't quite remember everything that happened that night, but I do remember you curled up on the floor crying and then you jumping on someones back and not getting up again. What was that all about?"  
  
Luther hadn't finished speaking before Klaus was tensing up and Luther realised that he had overstepped some sort of invisible boundary. "I have no idea what you're talking about."  
  
"Are you sure? You don't usually cry about much-"  
  
"It was nothing," Klaus seemed more like a cornered animal than Luther would have liked, eyes wide, shoulders tight and hands gripping the side of the bath so tightly that fingers were showing white through his skin. It worried Luther that Klaus was so determined not to talk about it. One day, he would try again, and hopefully that time Klaus would trust him enough to open up.  
  
When it became increasingly obvious that Klaus wasn't going to talk, Luther stood slowly from the stool. "Ok, alright, that's fine." He rested his large fingers on Klaus's wet bubble filled hair. "But one day, if you ever want to talk about it, just know that I'm always here if you need me."  
  
Klaus didn't reply so Luther exited the bathroom and left him alone with his bubbles and his thoughts and his ghosts while he lounged in luke-warm bathwater.  
  
**_5._**

Five was in his room, because where else would he be, hunched over on his bed with his notebook clutched in his hand, frantically flicking through notes. Luther knocked on the wood frame before he entered to be polite but Five didn't even look up. "What?" He snapped.  
  
"Uh," Luther shifted awkwardly. "Do you have time for a chat?"  
  
"I'm _busy_."  
  
"You're always busy," Luther walked in, taking no threat for his life a good sign and therefore an invitation to enter. "I'm being serious. Could you just... stop for a second and just talk to me for a bit? Please?"  
  
Heaving the tortured sigh of someone who had endured a thousand pains and the worst of which being at this very moment, Five grit his teeth, threw his book down and turned to face Luther at the doorway. "Fine," he waved his hand. "You might as well sit then."  
  
Luther didn't bother worrying about the creaking of the bed when he sat on it, used to the near-breaking of the slats, and rested his elbows on his knees. Five, usually impatient, gave Luther the time now that he had nowhere to go. "What happened to you?"  
  
"Don't be daft- you already know all about the apocalypse."  
  
"I'm not talking about the apocalypse," Luther shook his head and Five looked at him strangely. "I'm talking about the Commission and what you were forced to do under their employ."  
  
Five stiffened as if Luther had just sent a thousand volts straight through his spine. "What are you talking about." It wasn't a question.  
  
"Back during the apocalypse," Luther carried on without preamble. "We were trying to work out the best way to deal with the Handler, and you were so content with killing her and acted like murder was more familiar to you than your own name. You were just so... so calm about the whole thing as if you've done it a thousand times before. What did they make you do?"  
  
There was a tense silence between them for longer than Luther would have liked with Five gripping his mechanical pencil so tightly that it could snap. "I was always going to get back to you," he said haltingly. "And so I did everything that I needed to so I could return."  
  
"Even if that included killing unsuspecting people," Luther said quietly. Five flinched. "Did they deserve it at least? You had a code? You didn't kill innocent people... did you?"  
  
Gulping, Five's face seemed to cloud over. "I did what I had to do."  
  
"Fuck Five, are you being serious?" Luther thought he was usually very good at seeing the warning signs in his siblings, but apparently this time he miscalculated. "I know being alone in the apocalypse with nobody but a damn manikin for company must have been hard on you but what the hell could have happened to turn you into a ruthless, mindless killer?"  
  
"Do not speak of my Dolores like that!" Five snapped. No mention of the killing, Luther noticed, but he sat back realizing that Five was on his last tether. Five took a long, deep breath and continued with a voice filled with barely concealed anger. "When you are provided with a choice such as the one I was given, then you are forced to make a decision, even if it includes hurting some people. And don't get me wrong Luther, I _did_ hurt a lot of people. Some deserved it, some didn't, but that wasn't up for me to decide. I just did what I was told and killed who I was sent to and bided my time until I could come back here, to _you_ and save you all from the fate I've already lived through." He swivelled to face Luther. "Can you honestly tell me none of that was worth it?  
  
"I don't know," Luther said honesty after a moment. "But you're here now. You know that you can... talk to us about what you've been through and what you've done. You can talk to _me_. You don't have to carry that burden alone."  
  
Five's eyes glazed over, and Luther knew right then that he'd lost him "Yes," he said quietly, mind in a different world. "Maybe someday I will. But not today."  
  
This time, Luther was the one left alone in the room, as Five blinked away with a suction sound and a tingling burst of blue light.  
  
**_6._**

Klaus was in the upstairs hallway when Luther found him, wearing nothing but a set of hideously garish neon polka-dotted underpants and a beaded shawl that glittered under the overhead lights. "Where did you even get that?"  
  
"Oh?" Klaus held up the wine glass he was holding filled with Koolaid. "This old thing? Well, I found it in one of Daddy's cupboards. I assumed I could take what I like, considering he's dead and all and isn't going to need it in hell."  
  
Luther tried not to sigh, which was the common reaction when interacting with Klaus. "I was talking about what you're _wearing_."  
  
"Oh!" Klaus seemed to brighten at the mention. "You noticed! I just stole them from whatever random store I could find. I really feel the pink brings out my eyes. Makes 'em pop more." He waved his hand at the underwear clinging rather tightly to his lower half. Much too tight for Luther's tastes.  
  
"Right..." Luther said sceptically, stepping closer to him when all he wanted to do was back away. "Well, don't let Diego catch you in that. You know how he gets."  
  
Waving his hand dismissively, Klaus gulped down the rest of his Koolaid and turned back to Luther with red rimming his mouth. "Don't worry Luther old chap, Diego doesn't scare me. Uh, if you don't terribly mind my asking, what the _fuck_ do you want? I'm a little busy."  
  
As Klaus turned to the side and made weird faces at the far corner, Luther took in the sight of Klaus doing absolutely nothing and defiantly not being busy in the slightest and nodded slowly. "Right, ok, I uh actually wanted to ask you a favour." Klaus raised his eyebrows and looked at him expectantly. "Could you uh... could you pass on a message to Ben for me? Five said that we could try and talk to him, but it feels too awkward for me."  
  
Klaus stiffened so quickly that he choked on his spit. His eyes darted to the corner and stayed there for a few long moments before he eventually came to a decision. "Uh," he choked out. "Sure. Fire away."  
  
Shuffling uncomfortably on the spot, Luther looked at his shoes instead of at Klaus or around the room in case he accidentally looked at Ben. "Could you just thank him for me? Not just for looking out for you, but for also looking out for us when he could? I've noticed little things every now and again, and the only possibility is that Ben has been doing it. And maybe he was doing it before as well, keeping you off the streets and convincing you to do things. I already know that he convinced you to come after me at the nightclub, and I think I should thank him for that."  
  
There were tears in Klaus's eyes and he looked like he was going to cry, but Luther ploughed on. "And he was there for you when you were taken by Hazel and Cha-Cha, and he was by your side through everything else that's happened. He's helped us in ways that I never could have imagined. He's kept you alive. When you were sober enough to let him touch things, he saved our lives, and despite us not believing that you could really see him, he saved our lives back in the theatre. We never got to thank him. Tell him... tell him that he was never supposed to die. That it was all my fault and it's time I took responsibility for it. And make sure he knows that we never stopped loving him and that we never will." He looked up at Klaus. "Can you tell him that? "  
  
"Yeah," Klaus was looking past Luther at that corner with an unreadable look on his face. "I can do that."  
  
(Ben watched the whole thing, and every word Luther said stuck some sort of cord that Ben didn't know he had. As he watched Luther walk away, he and Klaus discovered for the first time that even ghosts like Ben could still cry.)  
  
_**7.**_

Vanya was in the garden, her fingers fluttering across the strings of her violin and her eyes closed in concentration as if she was revelling in the feeling of the vibration through her bones, basking in the sunlight on her face. Luther approached her tentatively, knowing that their relationship was still a little bit strained, and stood awkwardly. "Vanya?"  
  
She hummed in acknowledgment. "I heard you once you opened the door," she said softly. When Luther didn't move, she continued, "You can sit."  
  
Hesitantly, Luther sat beside her in the grass, his hulking frame towering over her delicate one. "I'm sorry."  
  
Sighing through her nose, Vanya opened her eyes and laid her violin across her lap. "I know you are."  
  
"It's just..." Now that Luther had found the courage to start, he wasn't quite sure if he'd be able to find the ability to stop. "I didn't know what to do, and I was so worried about Allison and you killing that guy that I took the easy way out instead of dealing with it as I should have, but I was just so _scared_ because I didn't want to lose two sisters in two days and I just didn't know what to _do_."  
  
"It's alright," Vanya looked like she wanted to put a hand on Luther's knee, but she wasn't all that comfortable with contact unless it was with the over-personal Klaus. "You were scared. I understand. To be honest, I probably would have done the same thing."  
  
Luther dug his fingers into the dirt and gripped the soil in his hands. "You came to us seeking comfort and kindness in a really dark time and instead I tricked you and betrayed you and stuck you in that _fucking_ box. I was going to just leave you there, you know? Just keep you in that cage until I could figure out what to do and I felt like there was absolutely nothing wrong with that and I-"  
  
"Hey," This time, Vanya did reach out and she placed her small hand on Luther's shoulder. "It's alright, Luther. You did what you thought was right for the family. I don't blame you, I really don't. You didn't know what would have happened if you didn't lock me up. You couldn't have known."  
  
"Even when we were kids, we were so mean to you and we never let you participate with us and we were just so fucking stupid, letting dad make us think that just because you didn't have powers didn't make you a real member of our family. I never should have locked you in there, the same place that dad kept you locked up for most of your childhood. If we're being honest, if I had never locked you in there, the apocalypse never would have happened. So really, the end of the world was _my_ fault-"  
  
"Luther," Vanya sharply cut into his rambling and he fell silent. "I _forgive_ you. It may have taken me a long while, but I forgive you."  
  
Blinking, Luther was a little shocked. He hadn't expected the conversation to go the way it had. "O-oh..." he wasn't sure what else to say.  
  
Smiling, satisfied that the conversation was apparently over, Vanya ran her hand delicately over the sturdy wood of her violin. It was the one she'd had since childhood, and Luther decided that he would buy her a new one in the near future. "Sit and listen with me. I need to start practising in front of people."  
  
And Luther, still a little surprised at being forgiven so easily, did exactly that.   
  
_**(1.**_

Diego came to him, dressed appropriately in his crime-fighting gear, and shoved a map into Luther's hands, ignoring the way Luther looked down at them in complete surprise and made an ugly face at Diego’s back that he probably caught in the mirror. "Uh... what's this?" Luther couldn't help but ask.  
  
"I need an extra pair of eyes and ears tonight, another pair of fists wouldn't be bad either," Diego replied, checking himself out in Luther's mirror, the knives strapped to his body glinting in the reflection. "So y-you're coming with me."  
  
Luther frowned. "Are you really sure that’s such a good idea? I might, uh... cramp your style."  
  
The look Diego sent him had Luther immediately regretting his words. "Do you want to come or not? Hurry the fuck up before I change my m-mind." And then he was gone, out the door and down the stairs in a quick instant, leaving Luther to quickly follow after him.  
~~~

He was about to leave when Allison took his hand in his and began to swing them together at their sides as they made their way down the footpath that led from their home to the road, her long and perfectly manicured nails digging unnaturally into his skin a little. "Are you busy?"  
  
"Uh... no?" Luther didn’t exactly know what was going on, but he was happy to go along with it.  
  
Allison beamed. "Great. There's a new cafe that just opened up. I need someone to go with so the paparazzi don't make rumours about me. Ironic, I know. So, what do you say?"  
  
"Are you sure you'd want to be seen in public with... me?" Luther had to ask, imagining what other people might think of him and his otherworldly bulk trying to squeeze itself into a tiny cafe chair, holding a tiny teacup with his huge fingers. "Wouldn't that just ruin your image?" Rolling her eyes, Allison scoffed and dragged him down the street.   
~~~

He was trying to read a book quietly in the library when Klaus flounced in, wearing some ostentatiously hideous garb that Luther could hardly stand to look at with a pair of _thongs_ on his feet, of all things. “So, Luther, old buddy old pal,” Klaus rubbed his hands together excitedly. “I need an adventure, and I need some big man to protect me.”

Subconsciously, Luther brought a hand up to pinch at his nose. “You’re not some damsel in distress, Klaus. And if what you’re planning on doing involves you needing protecting, then I don’t think I need to say that you probably shouldn’t do it. I doubt you’ll listen to me.”

“Nope,” Klaus said excitedly. “How do you feel about pulling a prank with me on some jerks down the road? I mean, they deserve it, and they’ll probably make it out with most of their limbs!”

Luther looked at him doubtfully. “And what does Ben say about all this?”

Klaus glanced to the side as he listened to Ben and the falling of his expression told Luther all he needed to know before Klaus had even said anything. “He says that I’m an idiot and that we should go to the bowling alley instead.”

Nodding, Luther stood. “I’ll go get my wallet.”  
~~~

Five knocked tentatively on his bedroom door while he was looking through old photo albums from when they were kids. “If I were to ask you to come with me, no questions asked, would you do it?” He asked without preamble once Luther carefully shut the album and turned to face him in the doorway.

“Uh,” Luther felt like that was a very bad thing to promise someone like Five, but they were brothers- what’s the worst that could happen? “Sure?”

“Good,” Five nodded, satisfied, before he turned away and began to march down the corridor, calling over his shoulder in a voice that floated through the halls, “Because there’s a man I need to kill and I need someone other than Delores to make sure I do it right.”

Luther choked on his spit as he shot upwards and quickly followed his brother out of the room. “What- Five wait, where the _fuck_ do you think you’re going? You can’t just spring that on me and expect me to understand- _Five_!”  
~~~

He wasn’t lying when he had said at Reginald's funeral that their father had often taken him to his favourite spot in the garden, and that’s where Luther was, under the large tree with the overhanging branches that almost always never grew leaves no matter the season, and he had forgotten how close it made him feel to his father.

Vanya came up to him tentatively, her violin case in her hand, wearing a nicely tailored black suit and her hair resting gently over her shoulders, her heavy shoes sinking a little into the mud but she didn’t seem to notice or maybe didn’t care. “Hey Luther, uh, I know this is really short notice and all, but I was wondering if you’d be able to come to my recital this afternoon? I’ve been working really hard on it, and I don’t think anyone else can make it, so I guess I just hoped…”

“This afternoon?” Luther asked. Vanya nodded and waited on bated breath while Luther pretended to think. “I think I’m free.”

It was worth it to see that smile on Vanya’s face. It was a smile that Luther wanted to keep there forever.)

Apparently, if you start acting like a brother, you get treated like a brother.


End file.
